<<<Maybe this says it all?
My wife and I recently installed a new fence, which is either just about ON the property line or just on our side of it. In any event, our neighbor on one side is stubborn, selfish, pig-headed, etc., and is being a jerk!
I apologize up front for the long-winded story, but I think you need to read it to believe it!
We informed him about the fence back in March of this year, at which point he asked us to reconsider, interestingly enough, because he was going to suggest using OUR yard for a community garden so that he would have something to look at while he sat at his dining room table and looked out the window. We said no because it was our yard and we wanted to close it in for privacy, which is no different than what he has and enjoys on the other side of his house. I guess he doesn't think we're entitled to the same privacy?
Realizing that we were not going to back down, he asked us if we would consider putting up a wood fence because he didn’t like vinyl. We said no because we thought the vinyl fence was attractive and because we wanted the low-to-no maintenance that vinyl provides. Besides…it’s our fence.
He then asked us to shorten the fence so his driveway wouldn’t become too much of a tunnel (the houses are VERY close to each other in our town) and to move the fence in off the property line so he would have some room to put snow and to plant a small row of flowers on the his side of the fence, so we moved it in and shortened the fence by about 12’.
While he was at work one day, his driveway contractor came to start the driveway. They said they needed to make the driveway exactly 9’ wide to accommodate their equipment, wider than what my neighbor and I staked out and agreed to, otherwise they would have to do the driveway manually and charge him more. I told them to do what they had to do because it would have been unconscionable for us to say no and to have our neighbor pay more than he was already paying just for the sake of a few inches. At the time we just felt it was the right thing to do and was what good neighbors should do for each other.
We didn’t have to ask his permission to put up a fence, nor did we have to cater to his requests to shorten and move it in, but in the interest of being a good neighbor we did all that.
Basically, he's only concerned about what affects him and has no regard for our feelings and/or rights. Only his opinion seems to count.
By way of background, before we put up our fence and he did his driveway over, his driveway sort of zig-zagged over the property line and there was no clear reference. He took it upon himself to plant flowers along the driveway on our side, but because of the unclear property line we said nothing. With all of this work having been done, the propertly line is crystal clear because his Belgium block driveway border is just about right on the property line or even over a bit.
Now he's insistent that he will still try to plant flowers on our side of the driveway again, which means those flowers would be on our property.
What rights to do we have? Can we just rip them out if he tries to plant or do we need to get a court order or an "adverse possession" order?
Any information would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance

